This invention relates to an outside door handle for vehicles contrived to deal with application of transverse load.
The door handle for opening and closing the door of an automotive vehicle functions as a handle for opening and closing the door and as means for manipulating a door lock device via a link mechanism. An example of such a door handle is disclosed in the specification of Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 2-40864. This specification discloses a vehicular outside door handle having a handle case (bezel) secured to a stationary member on the door side, a pair of spaced frames formed as an integral part of the handle case, a shaft extending between the frames, an outside handle freely rotatably supported on the shaft via the pair of arms, and a handle lever freely rotatably supported on one of the arms and operatively associated with an opening lever of a door lock device. By pulling the outside handle, the opening lever is operated using the handle lever, thereby placing the door lock device in the unlatched state so that the door can be opened. (The "unlatched state" refers to a state in which a latch and pawl are disengaged from each other to enable a striker to be freely withdrawn from and inserted into the latch.)
Such an outside door handle assembly for an automotive vehicle is engineered and fabricated upon taking into account at least the strength needed to withstand the load necessary to release the door lock, the strength to assure reliability with regard to withstanding repeated use, and the strength to withstand excessive operating force and impact.
The higher performance of modern automotive vehicles has been accompanied by the need to develop an outside door handle capable of withstanding higher impact force sustained at the time of a vehicular impact.